Long term evolution (LTE) may be a standard for wireless data communication technology that delivers a high data rate, low latency and packet optimized radio access technology. LTE, however, supports only a packet switched (PS) service while a universal mobile telecommunications system radio access network (UTRAN) supports both of a circuit switched (CS) service and a packet switched (PS) service. In order to provide a CS service in a LTE network, circuit switched (CS) fallback may be employed in the LTE network.
The CS fallback may enable the provisioning of voice and other CS services by reuse of a GSM/EDGE radio access network (GERAN) or a UTRAN CS infrastructure when user equipment is served by a LTE network. GSM may by an abbreviation of a global system for mobile communications and EDGE may be abbreviation of enhanced data rates for GSM evolution. The CS fallback is only available if LTE service coverage is overlapped with service coverage of a GERAN or a UTRAN CS network. For example, in the LTE network, a CS fallback procedure may hand over user equipment from a serving LTE cell to an associated non-LTE cell in order to process a mobile originated (MO) call or a mobile terminated (MT) call while the user equipment is camping on the serving LTE cell. The non-LTE cell may be a GERAN cell or a UTRAN cell. The LTE cell may be mapped to a corresponding non-LTE cell in one to one relation. A CS fallback call may be transferred from the serving LTE cell to the corresponding non-LTE cell in the CS fallback procedure.
When user equipment is located at a boundary of two adjacent LTE cells, user equipment may be handed over from a serving LTE cell to a target LTE cell. Such a handover from a LTE cell to another LTE cell may be initiated when the target LTE cell has a significantly better communication environment than the serving LTE cell. Accordingly, a service area of the serving LTE cell may expand toward a service area of the target LTE cell. If user equipment performs a CS fallback procedure for processing a CS service, such as a mobile originated call and a mobile terminated call, while the user equipment is located at such expanded service area of the serving LTE cell, the CS fallback procedure may hand over the user equipment to an undesired non-LTE cell, causing unnecessary location registration, delaying an entire process of handling such a CS service.